new-crane

Part II: Public Outcry becomes Public Art!

Tomorrow morning Escobar bridge will be taped off by city staff and our contractor Dimitry Doronkin will begin the task of laying the ceramic painted tiles on the bridge surface. He will be helped by Roger of the Environmental Studies Academy, a student of Rona Zollinger and the son of a tile & granite contractor himself. Worth A Dam will be there, handing out water, picking up trash and making sure the right tiles go in the right places.I heard from Lisa at the Contra Costa Times that we might even have a photographer stop by to record the moment.

Dimitry tells me they will lay tiles on thursday, and grout them on friday. The tile will be sealed for graffiti and UV protection, and will need to dry 72 before the last layer can be applied. Maybe you’d like to stop by and honk your support? The blue trim tile was purchased at Laufen tile in nearby Pacheco, and they kindly gave us a “school” discount for beavers. The trim pieces will be cut today by Chris Johnson at Bullnosing by Craftsman on Nardi Lane in Martinez. Jon is meeting Dimitry at the Home Depot in Martinez to buy supplies. All in all it couldn’t be a more local project.

Back in July, Worth A Dam was able to land an interview plugging the beaver festival on KCBS. The beaver-weary radio man made a series of veiled remarks bemoaning their presence and said “I guess Martinez has decided to turn its lemons into lemonade“. Sigh. What can you do to combat that kind of prejudice?

Now I think I would smile very indulgently and say, “Gosh I don’t think its entirely fair to call our city council “lemons“. Sure they’ve been difficult, but we have managed to work with them.”

Have you ever had one of those dreams where find yourself back at your locker in junior high only now you’re an adult and have a car and a job but still only a few minutes to get to English and you notice that everyone else seems really, really different than the last time you were there? Smaller and less intimidating?

Last night didn’t in any way resemble one of our familiar earth-nights. Everything had been transformed, mutated, or turned into something else. I gave the bridge art presentation to an enthusiastic council, (yes, you read that right) who loved the idea and couldn’t wait to support it. There was much oohing and aahing about the general cuteness of the children’s art work and I believe Ross actually thanked Worth A Dam for its continued hard work. I’ll have to see the video, because I was feeling too surreal to notice.

(Gazette page 1) (Gazette page 2) Our student helpers from Rona Zollinger’s ESA class came early to walk through their role in helping the project and were fantastically motivated and savvy. One had made a tile at the festival, another already had the Worth A Dam shirt, and a third was the son of a contractor who had helped lay tile and granite in the past and wanted to assist installation. The fourth was interested in writing about their role in the upcoming Worth A Dam newsletter. All were very smart about the visual impact their presence was going to have on the council, and volunteered to carry tiles and stand at the front during the presentation.

Two years ago after our dynamic November meeting, I left full of elevated hopes for the council’s role with the beavers. The sky was the limit. I dreamed big. 18 months ago, their refusal to vote on the subcommittee report turned me more wary and suspicious. I learned how to expect the worst but appear to hope for the best. One year ago their decision to put sheetpile through the lodge left me devastated and betrayed, and I honestly felt all bets were off. Last night, their reaction was again entirely unexpected. i would call it almost genuine enthusiasm with an element of quasi-amnesiac disconnect from their earlier cautions.

(If it hadn’t been for the fact that council woman Kennedy pointedly was the only member to say nothing whatsoever about the project, I would have thought I was in the wrong zip code. Thanks for making me feel at home.)